My Past, My Trauma
by 17 Days Left to Live
Summary: Have you ever wondered what Ryoma's life was like before he joined Seigaku but after the incident with Ryoga. Set in the U-17 World Cup. A bit OC ish as some characters aren't fully introduced in the manga yet.
1. Chapter 1

**This fanfiction has been sitting in my mind for a long time, a very long time. My story on paper is nothing like the ones in my head. I'm sure we've all had it where we can't get the words on paper.**

 **So please don't come complaining to me saying you don't like the fic okay.**

 **Disclaimer - (I seriously don't get the point of this. If I were the owner I wouldn't be writing fanfics now would I.)**

 **Oh the OCs belong to me and my imagination though.**

 **Enjoy~**

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 _"Ne Ryoma..."_

 _"Hmmm"_

 _"Would you cry... if any one of us were to die?"_

 _"What type of question is that?"_

 _"No Ryoma, seriously would you..?"_

 _"Ummm, this is awkward. Well I guess I would... I mean you are my friends after all, who wouldn't cry"_

 _"That's good.. Let's go back its gonna rain soon."_

 _"Wait! Why did you even ask that question for, you're weird you know that."_

 _"Oh, says the one who likes trying different bath salts as a hobby!"_

 _"Urusai yo"_

 _"Anyways we should hurry Ryo, Merry-nee is gonna scold us... again"_

 _"Wait for me"_

Ryoma opened his golden cat-like eyes and took in his surroundings by slowing moving his head from his right to his left. "What the hell was that weird dream?" He thought as he fought to keep his eyes open. The room he was in was dark the only light it got was from the slightly parted curtains, he could see a lump in the corner of his room which he quickly distinguished as his older brother Ryoga - his roommate. Trust Kiko to practically beg their captain for the Echizen brothers to be together just in case Ryoma got a nightmare and needed someone to calm and comfort him . He glanced at the clock on the far corner of the room, he was actually quite glad it was digital so he could actually see it without straining his eyes too much. The clock read 02:17, too early, Ryoma needed his sleep. Ryoma lay back down onto his bed and closed his eyes. He tried to sleep but he kept on hearing the same words over and over again. Getting fed up he got up and went to wash his face in the shared toilet of the room careful not to wake Ryoga otherwise he would be all over him teasing him for weeks for having a nightmare which he did not. Ryoma entered the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. What shocked him wasn't the fact that his face was paler than usual but the fact that he had two beads of tears rolling down his cheeks. "What the hell is wrong with me, first that stupid dream now the tears?" He called out in a frustrated yet quiet voice still aware that Ryoga could awake any second.

Meanwhile in another hotel not that far from where Ryoma had his emotional upset, Tokugawa Kazuya had a similar wake up call. Whereas Ryoma had his dream surrounded in darkness with audible speech and a conversation, all Tokugawa heard was a baby's cries and someone screaming "No! Stop it, don't you dare take him away, he's my brother, my Younger Brother!" Tokugawa like Ryoma was also as confused by the dream, he had no idea where the dream came from yet alone the significance of it. He decided to let it go as he reaffirmed his position on his bed and sleep soon enveloped him due to the intense training the day before.

"Chibisuke, oi chibisuke wake up" Ryoga called, dragging the covers off Ryoma exposing him to the cold yet gentle breeze coming in through the open window of the room. Ryoma snuggled deeper into his pillow moaning and whining to Ryoga to give him 5 minutes. "Not five minutes, now" Ryoga cried clearly annoyed. Who wouldn't be, he spent the last four minutes trying to get his younger brother out of his bed with no avail. Alas, after another 2 full minutes of dragging and screaming of Ryoga's part, Ryoma finally decided to sympathise with his brother and got out of his bed. "Man, what's with you? Its like you never slept a wink, chibisuke." Ryoga called after Ryoma who was trudging his way to the bathroom mumbling inaudible speech. Hearing Ryoga's comment Ryoma called out "If only you knew, Ryoga." before shutting the toilet door on a very confused Ryoga.

Tokugawa Kazuya was not one to forget things easily but that particular dream he had was wiped clean of his memories. His day went surprisingly well, although he could not get an uneasy feeling out of his chest. He, along with the rest of the All-Japan team had their morning practice as usual whilst their head coach decided on the groups to take part in the upcoming first round of the U-17 World Cup. Byoudouin glanced at Tokugawa once during the training session. What he saw shocked him enough to almost miss a lob from Oishi who happened to be his training partner for the session. Tokugawa held a slightly pained and unsettled look on his face which soon disappeared as he concentrated on his own training partner in front of him. Byoudouin did not especially care for Tokugawa but he had known him for quite a time enough to tell him when the boy was unsettled by something. Before Byoudouin could contemplate more on the boy's unnatural facial expression, Coach Saito had come out signalling the end of the practice. No sooner had practice ended all the coaches including coach Nyuudo came out and held the announcement.

"Everyone is to get changed and get into the bus, we are to head off to the Melbourne Arena to watch a friendly between Germany and America's Pro National Women's Team as per the U-17 head organiser's request. All participating teams will have to attended." Coach Kurobe called and sighed as he finished clearly upset that training had to be cancelled. "It's not all bad, they could learn quite a bit from watching them play." Coach Saito said a he turned to go back inside with all the coaches following, leaving a bunch of perplexed teenagers murmuring amongst themselves. "Eh... Buchou why do we have to go to watch some women play tennis. I mean women suck at tennis don't they?" Akaya whined turning to face his buchou. "Now now Akaya, women don't suck at tennis, there are some really good female tennis players in the world, some better than men too." Yukimura said turning to face Akaya with a gentle smile plastered on his face. "Eh... Really" Akaya said tilting his head to one side, still contemplating on what his captain had said. "Sou, sou Akaya, women aren't all that bad and scary like our mothers" Marui called from the huddle of the sweaty 27 youngsters. One by one the teens went off to get ready for the matches.

Tokugawa watched as everyone else went their ways and sighed. He didn't know why but something seemed off. Tokugawa although Japanese had not much faith in the superstions but he was starting to feel as if it was a bad omen of some sort, whilst being completely oblivious of his previous perplexing dream. Whilst absorbed in his inner turmoil he did not notice his rival/captain Byoudouin looking at him with eyes filled with a hint of confusion and another emotion one can not describe in words. He soon like the rest turned to leave leaving Kazuya to contemplate on his own thoughts.

Back at the American training grounds everyone soon had the same reaction after their captain had spilled the beans too. Ryoma inwardly groaned. It's not like he thought women's tennis was weaker than men's tennis, its just that he wasn't feeling that up for it considering his lack of sleep due to his annoying dream which he still had no idea what it was about. Whilst everyone was happily chatting with the other members Ryoma slipped up to his captain.

"Captain"

"Yes Ryoma?"

"Do we all have to go? Can't I stay here and practice?"

"Afraid so, it was a request from the Cup's officials. We have to go. Try thinking it as a form of training."

"Fine I'll go but I'd much rather have stayed here."

"I know, but anyway go get changed, we're leaving at 2."

"Okay"

Ryoma stalked off mumbling something about "Stupid Cup Officials" whilst Ralph stared at him with a bemused look gracing his features. Ryoga who had lingered behind had heard the conversation between the two young men approached Ralph and gently swatted him on the back of his head. "Try thinking it as a form of training." He mimicked in Ralph's voice. "Ryoga" Ralph called out warningly. Truth be told, Ralph was not looking forward to the friendly at all. They also followed their team back inside in preparation for the match.

The seats filled in quite quickly, all around him Ryoma could see all the opposing teams coming in. Some crazy damned idiot had casually decided to arrange seating plans for them and put teams right next to one another. Ryoma took a glance to his right and saw the England and Australian teams sitting next to each other on the same section. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were on bad terms. They were practically breathing down each other's necks. The Japanese team were only a team away from Ryoma, he didn't even need to strain his ears to figure out what they were saying. A smirk came to Ryoma's lips as he distinctively heard his former teammates whine about coming here.

The matches went by swiftly. The games were not as intense as one would like but nevertheless there were some good moves, which made Akaya start screaming "Sugoi Sugoi" out everytime the ball was served. Sanada clearly annoyed at Akaya's antics tried to silence him whilst Yukimura bemusedly chuckled behind them. The games soon ended up with a score of 2 all and it was finally time for the last match. The last two contestants were called up. From the German team a tall bulky brunette came out, from America a slender, yet well built,silver haired teen.

"From Germany we have Cecilia and America's representative Merry!" The announcer boomed out through his microphone. "Merry eh.. Same name as they person from my dream. ...Merry-nee is gonna scold us...again" Ryoma thought as the two contestants entered the pitch. Ryoma stared intensely at the silver haired teen. She looked so familiar yet Ryoma could not understand why. As soon as Merry entered the court, murmurs filled the arena.

"Shiraishi, what's everyone talking about?" Kintaro said turning to face his buchou.

"One second."

Shirashi listened intensively to the spectators. "...Didn't you hear..?" "..it's her, right?" " ...murderer.." "She shouldn't be allowed..." Murmurs filled the arena. Everyone was turning to each other and whispering with fearful eyes.

"I think they're talking about the American player, the girl called Merry." Shiraishi said still trying to make out what they were saying.

A voice erupted from the crowd. "Get off! You don't belong! You're a filthy criminal! Get the hell out you murderer!" The crowd also started jeering and yelling. Drinks were being thrown out onto the pitch. The U-17 were as confuse as ever. Only a few glanced at the girl with sympathy.

"Murderer? What are they talking about?" A worried Oishi voiced.

"According to my data, the girl Merry on the court right down there, has aparantly just been released from a youth offenders institution. She had been accused of killing a multitude of people including her own father and younger brother." Inui said.

"She was released 2 months ago after she was found not guilty but many claims she has connections which she used. Even though she has been cleared and her criminal record has been wiped clean people still have doubt." Renji had finished off.

"She's a murderer!" Akaya screeched.

"Bakaya, weren't you listening, she's been cleared." Niou said, slapping Akaya on the back of his head.

"Itai..." Akaya cried

"Well, whatever she is doesn't matter. What matters now is that she's a player on the court and things might turn ugly." Atobe pointed out.

Sure enough, the crowd were starting to move in on the girl. Merry was standing immobile with a blank expression on her face as if she did not care whether the whole world hated her or not. Her blank eyes gave no sign of fear nor hatred, it just reflected emptiness. With all the commotion going on no one noticed Swiss Pro Amadeus leave his seat and quickly walked towards the court. Ryoma who was watching suddenly had a strange vision. Images started flashing before his eyes. He saw himself standing in front of a huge building with a sign reading Raver's Tennis Camp. The scene was flashed forward where Ryoma was seeing himself drowning in a pool filled with darkness. He saw hands reaching out to him and he tried to grab on to them but he kept on galling deeper and deeper into the pool of darkness. He then heard a voice...

 _"Oh, don't worry. We won't hurt them. The only person doing the killing will be you, Ryoma."_

Ryoma was snapped out of his stupor when a voice rang over the arena. Everyone became silent as their eyes travelled to the source of the sound. There standing in the middle of the court was Amadeus. Mic in hand he continued.

"How dare you? For a tennis player, a court is sacred. Have you no respect? This girl over here is a player whether you like it or not." He cried pointing towards Merry. "You say she was a criminal, a murderer! I don't give a damn. Whether she's killed a million people or not in the past it doesn't matter, nothing matters when you're on the court. This is Tennis! So have some respect and let her play. That's what she's here for, that's what you're here for, right?"

Amadeus ended his speech with a glare which many cowered away from. He watched as everyone started retreating back to their seats. Feeling satisfied with this, Amadeus returned the mic and he also ascended to his seat. Ryoma who was listening, silently thanked Amadeus for getting him out of his vision. More confused than ever Ryoma bore another glance at Merry and sighed. "Does she know why?" He said oblivious to the fact that he had just voiced out his own thoughts. The French Pro Camus, who had been sitting a mere few seats away from Ryoma heard what the boy had said. He turned to look at him, Camus's eyes filled with an emotion of remorse and sorrow. His emotions were quickly overwritten as he shifted his attention to the court where the match was soon to be resumed.

By the time the umpire had reaffirmed his position the crowd had quietened down ad the match was resumed. "Are you ready? Let the match... Commence" the umpire called out before the whistle was blown.

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 **Hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 2 coming soon. Ignore any grammar or spelling mistakes please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 Up!**

 **Drawn...(Your name wont show) Thanks for your tip. I've taken it into consideration and tried to apply it into this chapter as much as possible.**

 **Anyways, here's the continuation. Hope you enjoy it.**

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The crowd fell silent as the young American player took her stance to hit the final serve. It was match point. The girl let the ball drop from her left hand, the one which donned a black and white full length arm warmer and with a swift flick of her right hand wrist, she sent the ball spiralling over to the other half of the court with an underarm serve. The German tried to catch up to the serve but her attempts were futile. The ball was hit using the upper gut of the racquet and had a perfect straight course. On crossing the net, the ball would ultimately dissapear in front of the player only to reappear behind them as of the ball had phased right through them. The ball would then hit the line of the court before rebounding out signalling the end of the game.

The moment the game had ended the arena filled with groans and whines with only a few cheers and praise. At the score of 5 games to 7, one would say the German player had done well and the goddess of victory could have favoured either of them, but to a tennis player, things were seen in a different light. The German player was clearly toyed with throughout the game. This was clearly shown by the amount of sweat pouring from the German's head. Merry on the other hand did not display any sign of exhaustion or fatigue. She still held the same blank face she wore before the match started. This revelation was not just known by the young tennis players, the German team also noticed this making their defeat more bitter than it already was. The German player's eyes reflected disappointment which was quickly removed when rage filled her eyes. She then swiftly marched off towards the American bench and grabbed her previous opponent by her jersey which she had just donned after winning her match.

"You jerk!" Cecilia spat out, voice quivering and hands shaking with resentment for the teen.

"You mocked me! How dare you? A being of your kind. Someone like you. You're just a stupid murderer and yet you... You humiliated me! You toyed with me!" Screamed the player in her mother's tongue.

The outburst had drawn all eyes and ears to the two players. Many did not understand the German's outburst but most could tell the women was enraged at the teen. Despite the unsportsmanlike behaviour, the crowd still cheered on the German. The only ones against the outburst were the American team, the U-17 Participants, a few regular sports-crazed fans and even some of the German team who thought their teammate's behaviour was disrespectful and an embarrassment to tennis.

Though Merry did not understand a word being said she could tell the player was annoyed at her. Merry had not meant for the player to regard her play as a mockery. She had only played the way she saw fit.

"I am sorry if you saw my play as a means of mocking you. I was only playing as I saw fit. I was not by any means disrespecting you. I must apologise for any inconvenience I have caused you." Merry replied to the German in fluent English.

The German player eyes softened for a moment before it regained its former glare after Merry had spoken. " Then why?" She cried out in an hysterical voice.

"Why did you use your right hand when you're a southpaw and why the hell did you only use underarm serves?" Cecelia said in her broken English, her voice lowering and her grip on Merry loosening a little.

"She's a southpaw?" Someone called out.

"You can tell by her stance and the way she grips her racquet. It's only a slight difference but its notticible to a keen eye." QP replied to some teammates questioning him about the girl.

A flash of guilt and sadness flashed through Merry's eyes before she lowered her gaze to the ground and spoke softly, "because..."

"Because why?" The German women screamed out.

Merry shifted her gaze from the ground to her opponent's face where she looked her in the eye. "Because I have my reasons" she said, her eyes not faltering for a second. She watched as Cecelia's face was contorted from shock to pure, undescribable rage. She watched as the women raised her arm high in readiness to hit her.

The crowd who were watching all quietened down as they saw the outcome of the players' conversation. Although the crowd hated Merry, the were not delighted by the fact that the girl would get punched by the German who was probably a decade older than her. The players from the German and American team along with a few officials rushed in to try and stop the player. Cecelia brought her arm down hard aiming at Merry's face. Everyone watched silently as Cecelia's fist came into contact with which they thought would be Merry's face only to hit the open palm of a tall man wearing formal attire.

"Who the hell are you?" Cecelia screeched, clearly annoyed at the man in front her who ruined her chances of redeaming some pride after her humiliating defeat.

The crowd watched with anticipating eyes as two other men dressed in black subdued the writhing women. Merry stood still with the same blank face on as if she weren't just about to be punched in the face. After the two men had successfully subdued the German after much screaming and futile resistance on her part, the crowd shifted their gaze to the man who had just stopped a brawl from erupting.

"...Head Councillor..? What are you doing here?.." A shocked umpire called out.

Ryoma along with the rest of the U-17 watched silently as the events followed out on the court. Many were wondering who the man was who just stopped a fight from taking place on their precious courts. The Japanese teenagers all turned to face their data players, faces demanding a biography on the man who just entered the court. Before the interrogation began though, their eyes were diverted back to the man.

The man stood in the middle of the stadium after grabbing the mic from the umpire. He held the mic to his mouth and called out towards the audience.

"Good Eve, ladies and gentlemen. I am the head councillor of the Tennis Association. In other words I run the world's tennis. I am the organiser of the U-17 World Cup taking place. Prior to this friendly, I requested that all participating teams attend this match. I had one intention in mind, to show you all good sportsmanship. However, as you have all seen, this has totally contradicted my plans for all these youngsters. Even before the World Cup there has been many cases of unsportsmanlike behaviour." His eyes shifted towards the Australian and England teams.

He let out a sigh before continuing. "Due to all this, I have decided that the World Cup should be postponed to a week from now on, where all teams with no exceptions should attend a tennis camp on an island not far from here in order to learn how to become true tennis players worthy of standing on the court. Futhermore there will be no complaints or the complainers will be automatically kicked off their team never to play in any tennis tournaments ever again as I will make sure of that."

As soon as the head had finished the arena was filled with shouts and complaints. The councillor then turned to the German and American teams.

"As for you lot, this kind of behaviour is uncalled for. I would have all of you thrown off the team never to play in a match ever again but I've found a more fitting punishment for all of you." A smirk came to his face as he said it.

"Listen up!" He called, turning to face the audience yet again.

"For this despicable display of tennis shown today, I have also decided that the Women's National German Team and the Women's National American Team will also be attending this camp as participants and coaches of the juniors. More information will be sent to your teams' coaches as to where you'll be heading and camp details. That is all."

He turned on his heels and walked off with his two men clad in black, leaving a shocked and speechless audience in his wake. The moment the Head dissapeared off into the rooms the crowd erupted into a flurry of shouts and shocked voices.

"Is he nuts?" Someone screamed.

"Ne ne, what did he say Yanagi senpai...?" Akaya asked, not understanding a word the man had said as he was totally helpless when it came to English.

Poor Renji was left with Akaya whilst everyone else quickly slipped off somewhere, away from Akaya to avoid the screaming and whining that was soon to come. Tokugawa cracked a smile as the news was given out. He was actually looking forward to it in hopes of seeing other teams in action.

"This might be fun." Kazuya monotonously said, speaking to no one in particular.

Oni who was nearby only smiled at the younger boy's opinion on the matter whilst praising him for being practically the only sane person who saw the camp as a new means of training and becoming number 1.

"What..? Did you just hear that? Can he even do that?" Kiko cried out turning to face the rest of his team.

"He rules the Tennis World, Kiko. Something like this can be done as easy as predicting the weather in the Antarctic." Ralph replied.

All around them everyone was getting up to leave. Ralph along with some other players stood up to leave also. "Man this is insane, right Ryoma?" Dodo called out towards Ryoma.

After a brief moment of no reply, Dodo called out Ryoma's name a little louder. This time Ryoma responded. "Yes, you were saying..?"

"Man, Ryoma. At least listen when people talk." Dodo sighed.

"Sorry, there's too much noise." Ryoma retorted.

"Chibisuke, Dodo. Hurry up! We're gonna leave you behind otherwise." Ryoga called from the top of the stairs.

Both Ryoma and Dodo hurried out of their seats and briskly walked/ran towards the exit. If they said they were going to leave you behind, they probably would knowing some of the team's, especially Ryoga's impatience.

Before leaving via the exit, Ryoma took one last glance at the silver haired teen who was lagging behind the rest of her team whilst they exited the arena. Confused of many things, Ryoma looked at the girl wondering whether she knew something if anything at all. She looked so familiar yet at the same time she felt so distant. Surveying the arena one more time before leaving, he caught three teens looking down at the arena. Their focus was also Merry. Quickly turning on his heel, Ryoma stalked off towards the rest of the team.

Meanwhile the Japanese team had also started to return to their hotel in anticipation for more news regarding the camp. Tokugawa had walked by the American team as they were leaving. He had taken a look towards Echizen Ryoma and saw his face overwhelmed by a variety of emotions. Most he could tell was a look of confusion but Kazuya could not figure out why the boy looked like he was about to tear up any moment from then. However, after a team player started to converse with him, his face contorted back to it's usual cocky self. Although the boy displayed no signs of his previous distress, Kazuya could not help but feel concerned for the boy.

Kazuya, who on the way out glanced repeatedly at the young boy's retreating form was very absorbed in his worry for the kid, so much that he did not notice another pair of eyes staring at him every now and then.

The moment Kazuya stepped out of the arena he was confronted by a very abnoxious and serious looking Byoudouin. "Stop worrying over the kid, he's not your's nor anyone else's problem now."

Byoudouin brushed past Tokugawa before walking off. Before Byoudouin could go far, Tokugawa said quietly "You saw his face."

"Yes, I did and I also saw your face this morning. Both looked exactly the same. Its not my problem whatever happens to you or the kid." Byoudouin retorted back with a look that said _dare answer me back and you'll experience a world of pain._

Tokugawa just stared after Byoudouin after his mini outburst. "My face..? What was wrong with my face in the morning?" Tokugawa thought before heading off in the direction of the bus still thinking about Ryoma and the pained face he held.

Back at the American hotel everyone gathered round whilst Ralph started reading out some information he got on the camp. "Hey Ralph!" Kiko called out.

"What's this camp called anyway?"

All eyes turned to face the blonde captain. Reinhardt took a breath before continuing. " I'm sure some of you have heard of this camp before a it was on the news a couple of years back. The name is Raver's Tennis Camp Re-established."

"Raver's" Kiko practically screamed. "As in the Raver's Tennis Camp! The best tennis camp in the whole world."

"It couldn't be Kiko. Raver's was destroyed almost 3 years ago after the explosion. They shut down." A voice called out from within the crowd.

"Actually.." Ralph spoke up. "This is the same tennis camp. They managed to re-build the whole thing from the remains. It's still got some of the old undamaged buildings there too. They apparently built it with such precision that it is completely identical to the previous Raver's."

"Hey chibisuke! Looking forward to it." Ryoga called out turning to face his younger brother. Ryoga's eyes immediately went from joyfulness to worry. Ryoma was crouching down and clutching his head with both his hands.

"Chibisuke!" Ryoga cried out, running towards Ryoma after successfully gotten everyone's attention to the pre-teen. Soon everyone was either running towards Ryoma or making room for Ryoga to pass.

Dodo who was closest to Ryoma reached him first placed his hand on his back and started asking if he was okay. Ryoma, embarrassed by the situation of allowing himself to look weak in front of everyone, briskly stood up, startling Dodo.

"Chibisuke, you okay. What happened?" Ryoga questioned, eyes full of worry.

"I'm fine. I never got much sleep yesterday that's all. Now I got a headache. I'm going to go rest now to catch up on my sleep. I think I'm still jet-lagged." Ryoma quickly said before heading off towards his room.

"Not enough sleep..." Kiko mused.

"Maybe he had a nighmare. Ryoga? Are you doing your job? There's a reason why you two are together in the same room." Kiko said, glaring openly at Ryoga.

Meanwhile at the Japan team hotel, coach Kurobe was also reading out the camp's information. "Okay, according to this new and obligatory training session we must all pack a weeks worth essentials for tommorow morning at 8 where we will take a ship from the west port to the island. The ship will deport at exactly half past 8 so make sure you are ready by then. The voyage will take approximately 6 hrs so you will be arriving there at around 2:30pm. That is all. You may have today off to pack your things." Kurobe ended with a sigh yet again.

The moment Kurobe had finished his talk the crowd of whining and eager children dispersed and proceded to chatter amongst themselves.

Night came fast. Ryoma lay awake in his bed. He had taken a nap after retiring to his room a couple of hours back only to be awoken when ryoga barged into the room to pack his things. Ryoma had reluctantly gotten out of his warm bed to help with the packing, now done the two Echizens retired to their beds And ryoga was soon sound asleep, Ryoma on the other hand could not sleep. Still replaying today's events in his head, Ryoma was naïve to say that the incidents that unfolded were all just coincidences. After countless minutes of tossing and turning in the bed, sleep soon enveloped the small boy.

Midnight struck the city and four silhouettes of teens gathered at a local park. Their conversation were as followed:

"He doesn't remember a thing."

"Should we tell him?"

"No! No one is to breathe a word of that incident to him no matter what. Got it?"

"Why not? It'll only make it worse when he does eventually remember."

"But even so, that day is in 5 days from now. If his memories hold on for 5 more days he won't go through that trauma again."

"But we're going to that place. The place of that trauma. The place where you know.. That place is hell remember."

"I know, there's no way I can forget that hell, who can, but even though going there may only makes things worse for him, its a gamble we must take for him... For Fuyu and Shou too... so please, just this once let's keep this secret from him. After all we're family."

"Fine... Just this once though."

"You guys, shush. Someone's coming."

The teens immediately quietened down before deeming it was safe to continue talking. "Let's go! See you tommorow then."

The four teens all went their separate ways their eyes filled with fear, anger and sadness. Unbeknownst to them, a fifth silhouette appeared from behind a tree this time of a man. The silhouette whispered parting words before disappearing into the darkness of the night.

 _"Let's go back home shall we, my darlings!"_

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 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **It was a hassle to write though, kept on getting interrupted. Tiring too. Took me a full 5 hours with a lot of interruptions 'cause I have an extremely slow and laggy tablet.**

 **Chapter 3 coming soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3!**

 **I was re-reading chapter 1 and found out that autocorrect had changed Amadeus into Carlos which I have no idea how as Amadeus and Carlos are no where similar but... This is autocorrect. So I've changed that just in case some of you were wondering who the heck Carlos was.**

 **So to clarify the guy I was talking about was Amadeus, the Pro player from the Switzerland U-17 Team not Carlos.**

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Morning came fast. Many felt as if they had not slept a wink at all. This could be said true to Akaya who spent the night watching horror films with Niou and the self acclaimed genius Marui and becoming too frightened to go to sleep. Everyone else were either too excited after finding out they were going to Ravers or their roommate had kept them awake all night - Kintaro's room especially was filled with laughter and chatter all night long. Its a miracle how Sanada who was sharing the room managed to sleep at all.

8 o'clock came and one by one teams started piling in. The first to arrive were the champs Germany, first in the U-17 meant they had to be punctual too and tardiness was not an attribute of the champions was the law courtesy of Volk. By 8:15 most teams had arrive and only two teams were left - Japan and America.

"Where the heck are those two teams? The ship is going to leave soon. Keigo is in team Japan right Leon." A member from the England team said.

"Yeah..."

"Oi, guys. The head councillor is here!" A voice rang out which everyone quickly discovered to be the captain for the ship's voice.

The head councillor strolled into the harbour with the same two men clad in black suits that were with him the day before. As always the head councillor had his usual smug looking face on which one could say was on the same level as Ryoma's smug face. "Okay!" He called out addressing the teams of teenagers.

"Is everyone here?" He said. It was more of a statement than a question, as if he was expecting everyone to be there on time.

"No sir. The American and Japan teams have yet to arrive." The captain said.

"Is that so?" He said, a smile forming on his face.

Meanwhile somewhere in Australia the Japanese coaches were in panic. "Can't this bus go any faster? We need to be there in 10 minutes. Step on it." Coach Saito called out to the bus driver.

Coach Mifune and coach Kurobe sat still in their seats waiting patiently for the harbour to com in sight whilst Tsuge glared menacingly at he middle schoolers. "Anyone care to explain why we are late?" He growled out successfully scaring a few middle schoolers namely Oishi.

Everyone involuntarily turned to face Akaya who was cowering at the back of the bus."Bakaya left his bag in the hotel and we had to go back to retrieve it which took a long time 'caused we sort of got lost." Niou replied to the coach.

Tsuge just sighed before heading back to the front of the bus where the other coaches were. "Who's genius idea was it to invite middle schoolers to a high schooler camp?" He thought as he trodded back to the others.

"If it makes you guys feel better Tokugawa-kun over there overslept today" Irie said to the others whilst pointing to Kazuya.

Everyone else turned to look at Kazuya before quickly averting their gaze elsewhere as he turned to glare at them. It wasn't usual for him to oversleep but that very day Kazuya had not woken up when his alarm rang. You could not say it was due to extreme training as they had the afternoon off but even now Kazuya was feeling quite tired and restless. He did not know why though Kazuya did know it was due to him mysteriously waking up the night before. Yet it was not the only thing bothering him, Ryoma's pained expression still lingered in his mind which caused his uneasiness and most discomfort. One would say it was weird for him to worry over someone else whom he barely knew yet Tokugawa felt a sense of closeness and protective nature towards the boy as much as one would be towards their own younger brother. "I guess I've always wanted a younger brother." Tokugawa thought with a smile adorning his features.

At the thought of brother, the day before dream flashed through Kazuya's mind. Kazuya grasped his head and winced as a surge of pain and dizziness washed over his head. Irie, who was sitting next to him turned to look at him. "Hey, you OK?" He called out, voice not devoid of worry.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Just got a little headache that's all." Kazuya easily lied, trying to divert the attention away from him.

Before anyone could pester him with more questions, the bus skidded to a halt whilst the bus driver announced they had arrived at their destination. Everyone scrambled to get out of the bus whilst Coach Kurobe had gone to apologise to the head councillor for their tardiness.

"Are we the last to arrive?" Someone called out after they had all squeezed out the bus.

"No apparently we're still waiting for the American team. They haven't arrived yet." Kurobe said after returning from his chat with the councillor.

"I'm guessing the American team are witnessing first hand how much of a sleep devil our little prince is." Fuji bemusedly chuckled from within the crowd.

As if on cue the American team came rushing in five minutes prior to the set time. "Sorry we're late." Kiko called out through huffs.

Kiko was not the only one panting though, the rest of the team like him were all worn out. "The bus broke down halfway here, we had to run full speed the last 20 minutes. If it weren't for that we would have been here on time." Ralph explained before straightening up.

"Hmmm... So it wasn't your fault then, Echizen?" Fuji called out.

"Why do you always say that, just because we're late doesn't make it my fault Fuji-senpai." Ryoma retorted slightly annoyed yet also amused.

"Okay, okay. Save the chatter for later. Everyone board the ship already. Its going to leave you behind otherwise." The head councillor called out from the deck of the ship.

On hearing this both teams quickly scrambled to get their belongings and themselves boarded on the ship. One by one the teens started piling into the ship, Ryoma who was as usual lagging behind everyone felt the presence of someone watching them. He quickly did a full 360 and on finding no one he picked up his bag and walked straight in. "That's weird, I'm sure someone was watching us." He thought.

"Maybe I'm paranoid." Ryoma internally groaned. "Its all that stupid dream's fault."

Ryoma was very deep in thought, so much that he did not notice that he had gotten on the ship nor did he realize that it had set sail. He did not even know that Kintaro had begged him for an eternity to play him. He did not even notice that Ryoga had called him 6 times. However when he did finally decide to snap out of his stupor he was met with the full brunt of cold water splashing all over him. Coughing and gagging he cried out "What the hell was that for?" glaring daggers at Ryoga.

"I've been calling your name for ages." Ryoga snapped back.

"Sorry, wasn't concentrating." Ryoma shrugged before staring back at the waves.

Ryoga groaned before tossing Ryoma a towel and telling him to go inside as it was time for lunch. As Ryoma went inside he noticed that everyone had mysteriously not killed each other yet though he was aware of the dangerous aura emitting from the England and Australian teams respectively. The rest of the teens had actually used their brains and steered clear of the two teams in fear of them focussing their wrath on them.

The lunch that was served to them was a mixture of Western and Asian so most were content with it however a few were practically sulking in their seats after not receiving their home country foods. It was peaceful at first, the teams tended to avoid one another however things did not stay that way for long. The head councillor had decided to start the training now even before they arrived at the camp. He put everyone into pairs, no one would be in the same pair as a member of their country was the rule. The 700 teenagers give or take a few were all put into pairs where they would have to communicate with whatever English they had which was especially hard for Akaya and Kintaro to do as their dictionary was practically empty.

It is not known how hell descended on them but all one could say was that it was all the head councillor's fault. The genius had thought it would be fun to put Merry and Cecelia in the same pair, Leon from the England team had been partnered up with Dorgias from the Australian team. It seems the head councillor had intentionally put those on bad terms with one another. Ryoma had been partnered up with Medanoré from the Spanish team. It was of course a wild combination but neither had any complaints.

"That's weird, I'm sure I put Ryoma with that Frankensteiner guy from the German team not Medanoré. And also why the heck is Camus and Amadeus in the same pair, they're both Pros for God sake. Someone's tampered with my files. Oh, well." The head councillor quietly chuckled to himself his eyes scanning over the newly former pairs.

Each pair had to sit opposite each other on the tables and converse in conversation was what the councillor had demanded. This is where it all started.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Growled a very annoyed Dorgias.

"Nothing and stop staring at me and rolling your damn beady eyes every two seconds at me." Leon retorted back.

"Why you...!" Dorgais lunged forward and tried to grasp Leon by his collar but instead hit his tray of food and tipping its entire contents onto Leon.

"You jerk, look what you did." Leon roared grabbing two drinks from a nereby table and dumping it over Dorgias's head.

Dorgias stood stationary with a shocked look on his face before grabbing a pile of food and throwing it at Leon. The fight would have quickly been subdued if Leon had not ducked and taken it though he did duck and the food was sent flying into the direction of Atobe Keigo. The food hit its mark and everyone in the area quickly diminished their chatter and turned to face Atobe. Keigo just stared forward, his mouth hanging open and eyes emotionless. Leon stared at him first with shock and fear though that soon turned to amusement. At first it was a small giggle but it soon turned into full blown laughter. "Keigo... Oh God... " Leon cried out before more laughter escaped from his mouth.

After hearing Leon laugh Keigo finally snapped out of it and grabbed the nearest plate which undeniably belonged to Marui as it packed full with all kinds of cakes and sweets. That plate was also sent flying. Both Dorgias and Leon ducked leaving the plate to land on none other than Akutsu's face. And at this the full scale of the food fight erupted.

Almost everyone took part save the more reasonable ones and unbothered ones example Ryoma. The German had started to join after getting hit but were forced to stop after Volk threatened to triple practice if they displayed anymore undignified behaviour. They went out threw the back door along with some others.

The fight lasted a full 10 minutes before the head councillor entered and said this one sentence. "Stop this at once or none of you will ever play tennis again." It was said in a small and quiet voice yet miraculously everyone heard it, even those who did not understand English froze in their tracks.

"Please tidy all this up in the hour and return to the deck, we will be arriving soon." He continued, his voice quiet but dangerous.

Immediately everyone set to work, no one complained no one questioned. No one even spoke. Everyone knew that if they did not follow the head councillor's orders, tennis would become a distant memory for them. Those however who had chosen to ignore the fight and head up to the deck earlier had spent the rest of their time chilling on the deck engaging with whatever activities they wanted.

Meanwhile at the front of the ship four teenagers met up. "You put Ryoma and yourself as partners how is that fair." Merry sulked at Medanoré.

"Come on. You can't always get what you want." Medanoré replied back, faking a smile.

"Okay then, why are you two partnered up?" Merry said turning to face Amadeus and Camus.

"Don't look at us." They replied back simultaneously.

Merry glared back at Medanoré. "Well..?" She asked, her tone dropping a notch.

Medanoré gulped. "They were partnered up with weak people." He tried to reason.

"So what. Anyway why did you leave me partnered up with that German. She's trying to kill me plus not to mention weak like their previous partners." Merry said, gesturing to both Amadeus and Camus.

"Um... Forgot I guess..." He said meekly.

Both Amadeus and Camus slapped their foreheads. "He's Dead!" They both simultaneously thought.

Merry just stared at him before letting out a sigh. "Fine, just as long as you look after Ryoma." She said.

Medanoré smiled before saying "Don't worry I will."

Merry walked off and headed back inside whilst both Amadeus and Camus let out sigh. "You got off easy this time. Next time you won't get so lucky." Camus said before turning to leave as well.

Ryoma sat on the deck. It was a long day and already he was feeling exhausted. He just had another dream, this time of a man. The man wore a long white lab coat and had blonde short hair. He looked a bit like Byoudouin though he had green eyes. The man was no Japanese. The man was smiling and saying something though Ryoma couldn't hear. There was someone shouting in the background drowning the man's voice out. Just then Ryoma heard several gunshots. He turned to look at the man again and saw that he had several holes in his body where blood poured out from. He caught a glimpse at the man's face before it all turned black. The man was in pain yet he was smiling.

Ryoma stared in front of him his eyes showing confusion, pain and sadness. He didn't notice his partner come up to him. "Ah Ryoma. Are you okay?" Medanoré asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ryoma looked up at him.

"You're crying."

Shocked Ryoma touched his face. He was indeed crying, his face was all wet and warm from his tears. He quickly rubbed his eyes before standing, as he did though, the captain called out through the speakers. "We have arrived at Raver's Tennis Camp Re-established. Please gather your belongings and come on deck."

Ryoma turned to look at the island in front of him. It was a small island and you could see part of the camp building. It looked just like the camp he saw in his dream during the friendly match. A surge of pain waved through his head again and he lost his balance. He fell to his knees and he was sure he would make contact with the ground if not for a pair of hands that grabbed him halfway through his fall.

Ryoma looked up at Medanoré. His head began to clear as he slowly tried to make sense of what happened.

"Are you okay Ryoma?" Medanoré started.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired thats all." Ryoma replied embarrassed as he tried to hide his face under his cap.

Amused Medanoré said, "Its best if you get up now before anyone comes up deck. You don't want them to see you like this do you?"

"Shut it." Ryoma said before storming off leaving a chuckling Medanoré behind. Though his laughter soon turned grave as he too stared at the island infront of him.

"Ah... Back here again."

The moment the ship hit the shores the teenagers began piling off especially the sea-sick ones even before the coaches had told them to leave. Though many did not mind as many had had enough of dealing with the U-17 members.

"Honestly, they're like kids on a field trip." mumbled a coach.

"It seems we do forget that they are still kids. I mean there's a 12 year old here too you know." Someone else said.

Tokugawa exited the ship and looked forward at the building in which would become their home for a week. It gave off a strange vibe and Kazuya could not help but feel as if something bad would happen. Merry who was nearby was also looking at the building she glanced around to find Ryoma but whilst searching her eyes landed on something which shocked her to her very core. "What is he doing here? No... If Ryoma meets him... No he's on the Japanese team of course Ryoma's met him. I'm so stupid I should have realized. This will only trigger his memories even more." Merry glanced around and found her new target. She had to tell Medanoré.

"Those two should never meet whilst in this camp otherwise Ryoma will return to that state. Medanoré, you've got to keep them separate." She frantically cried in her mind.

She couldnt talk to Medanoré now due to everyone crowding round though she managed to tell him to meet her on the roof after practice with the others.

When everyone had gotten out of the ship, the head councillor stood in front and addressed the crowd. "Everyone is to follow me to the camp. Please do not get lost. The camp is only a four minute walk away and one more thing you have to walk in your pairs."

This erupted a lot of groans, though the head councillor turned around as if no one had complained. The many teens and coaches began their walk oblivious to a figure appearing from behind a tree. The figure grinned before leaving in the direction of the camp, the words for his parting engraved on the tree.

 _"Welcome to Hell!"_

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 **I think I have writers block hence this crap chapter. Expect slow updates. Though I'll try not to make it any longer than 2 weeks. And the holidays are over so I won't get much time.**

 **Chapter 4 coming soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I hate school! It totally sucked the life out of me. I only started writing this chapter after one week. Too tired to do anything but read manga after school.**

 **So anyway, enough of school. I've corrected the typos but forget the grammar and punctuation, there's too much to do and English is not my forte hence the reason I hate school. So make do with my sentences but thanks for the advice anyway Drawn... (Again your name refuses to be shown.)**

 **So Chapter 4 up!**

 **Hope you enjoy it, though I'm going to be honest and say it will be by far one of the worse chapters you will be reading from this fanfiction. I just don't have any idea what to write.**

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The moment the teenagers entered the building most jaws dropped and their eyes widen at the interior of the building. The building itself had no outstanding features worthy of praise except the humongous size of the camp, it was what was in it that made mostly everyone gaze in awe. Just by entering the lobby one could tell it was a designed by maniac. A tennis loving one at that. Yet although everyone could see that it was furnished like that, they could not help but be mesmerized by the sight in front of them. It was not really as valuable as one would expect of the best tennis camp in the entire world to others yet to those teenagers it meant more, a lot more.

The room was fairly square with the exception of a place where the building jutted inwards. One wall adorned a full chest full with trophies after trophies. Most were related to championships and tournaments the elite team of Ravers had won. Some were related to the repution of the place yet all represented and displayed a factor of tennis and unrivalled championship. The wall adjacent to it was covered in thousands of pictures and paintings. There were many photographs of kids around their age and some younger all donning a similar attire which one could guess as the regular's uniform. The other walls all followed with a specific theme, one wall contained autographs after autographs of famous tennis stars from all over the world and the last wall was covered in a massive wooden plaque where many names had been engraved on. It wasn't professional nor costly to buy except for the autographs but anyone, especially a tennis player could tell that despite the overly crowded display, there was genuine, pure love for tennis behind it all.

"Do you like it?" A voice called out which unmistakably belonged to the head councillor.

Everyone replied in the affirmative before the councillor continued. "The previous head coaches had designed it themselves. I'm sure you can all tell that all those trophies were won by Ravers themselves and those photos..." He said gesturing to the wall covered with photographs "are pictures of former members, coaches and basically anything tennis related. The one with autographs are of famous tennis players from ages ago. Although this camp has only been founded a mere 2 decades ago some of these autographs are a good 8 decades old. This last wal may not look like much especially since its all wood though I personally like it the best. You see, all these names engraved here are names of every single person who has ever attended Ravers be it for a week or a year, no one attends Ravers without leaving their mark. You too will all engrave your name on this when you leave in a week's time." The head broke off with a small smile before turning back to face the others.

No one said a word as many were too mesmerized by the history and love for tennis, even the coaches stood stunned before their attention was diverted when a man came out from a corridor connected to the room. "Hello, you must be our first recruits." The man wore a bright and warm smile which made many feel comfortable and forget their feeling of grogginess for those who had been seasick.

The man continued, the smile never leaving his eyes. "Welcome to Raver's Tennis Camp Re-established. I am the new and current Head Coach Adrian Phipps. Nice to meet you all."

The crowd all chorused a reply of "Thank you and nice to meet you too Mr. Phipps." before the head councillor went to have a chat with their new coach for the upcoming week.

After a brief talk with the head coach the councillor turned to face them again and told them to line up with their partners. They were then given a number between each pair which would then decide their room numbers. They were also given a map due to the vastness of the place and the estimated probability that more than half of them would get lost. Some pairs had to share a room with another pair though some did not mind, however some pampered little kings (Ehem...Atobe) were simply horrified at the thought of sharing a room with 3 other people of whom he could barely converse with. They were also given a schedule each which they had to stick by with.

The minute the head councillor had delivered the instructions, every pair strutted over to their room to get settled in. Ryoma walked silently through the hallway, Medanoré following closely behind. Both were quiet and both held the same grim faces. Medanoré's grimness was due to the anxiety and fear of the place with which he would associate as hell. Not only that, Medanoré was also worried for the boy who stood a mere half a foot away from him. Ryoma's grim face however was not caused by any fear or anxiety, it was however caused by the familiarity of the place and the sudden omen that something bad were soon to happen. Ryoma quickly grabbed his head as another bout of pain surged through his head before letting his hands drop as his consciousness reminded him that Medanoré was walking behind him. Medanoré had noticed the sudden movement but made no comment in fear of angering the pre-teen.

"Why does this place look so familiar?" Ryoma thought as he continued his way to his room. However before Ryoma could contemplate any further, he was interrupted by Medanoré who had told him that they had arrived at their room. Medanoré opened the door and both entered coming face to face with a beryspacious room with 4 single beds. Scanning the room, Ryoma could see that 2 of the beds had already been occupied by 2 tennis bags. "Echizen" a voice called out to Ryoma.

"Buchou." Ryoma replied before nodding to the bespectacled teen and walking over to an unoccupied bed and dumping his tennis bag on it before greeting the other occupant.

"Tokugawa-senpai." Ryoma greeted, turning to face the dark haired high schooler.

"Ah... Echizen-kun." Kazuya said before commenting.

"Three Japanese players eh..." He said turning to face Ryoma.

"It's fine. We are all representing different teams anyway." Ryoma replied before turning his attention back to his bed where he had just emptied the contents of his bag.

Meanwhile Medanoré had taken his place on the last remaining bed where he too like the rest started sorting out his bag. The rest of the afternoon was quiet in room 117 where these 4 tennis stars resided whereas in other rooms this peaceful atmosphere was clearly lacking.

Room 176, 2 young men struggled to keep their hands from grabbing their rackets. Dorgias and Leon watched each other though the corners of their eyes. They had not yet said a word to one another though steadily the tension was increasing bit by bit in the room. Other rooms settled in a similar manner. This happened in room 213 where Merry and Cecelia had been appointed. Cecelia glanced repeatedly at Merry who had silently began to unpack. "This is all your fault you damn criminal." Cecelia said outloud in German. Merry who heard what the German said simply shrugged before continuing her previous work. Cecelia, clearly angry at her reaction quickly stormed off, slamming the door shut as she fled. Merry hearing the German leave, silently muttered "It's my fault eh..." Before continuing her unpacking in the same manner as she did before.

However not all rooms suffered the same fate. Rooms like Oishi's room had to be shared by only him and his partner. Oishi had been fortunate to have landed with a decent enough player, although not much conversation could occur between the two. This, however awkward it was helped them not fight against one another although you would not think the mother hen of Seigaku would get into any fights other than anything regarding Meat after all he is the Magistrate.

Well anyway, the rest of the afternoon passed on like this whilst the head coach and councillor had more pressing matters to deal with. "Well, did you get it." Adrian Phipps asked turn to face the councillor.

"Patient, my good man. You will get what you have desired." The head councillor replied adding "which you hardly deserve" as an after-thought.

"Well you better hurry up. I want it before the week's end. Got it?"

"Yes, yes." The councillor replied before turning on his heels and strutting down the hallway.

Turn round the corridor, two teenagers listened to the two men talk. "What's it?" Amadeus asked Camus.

"How should I know?" Camus grunted in reply.

"Well anyway, we should keep an eye on those two whilst at this camp." He continued.

"Ah... Someone's coming. Let's go!" Amadeus warned before dragging himself along with Camus to the door of the cafeteria.

Teenagers were starting to pile into the cafeteria as many were famished. It is true that they had lunch only a few hours before but what can you say when its a bunch of teenagers who have until this point been glaring non-stop and breathing down their roommate's neck every 2 seconds. Medanoré, Tezuka and Kazuya all entered the cafeteria before getting ambushed by Ryoga. "Ne.. Where's chibisuke?" Ryoga asked, tilting his head round hem to see if he was there.

Kaguya answered "Echizen-kun is sleeping." Before walking past Ryoga and grabbing a plate from one of the tables, Tezuka followed.

Medanore hung behind for a little bit watching Ryoga's fave morph from bubbly to grim. "Sou ka..." Ryoga said before heading out of the cafeteria. Medanoré's eyes tracked Ryoga all the way threw the corridors until Ryoga dissapeared round the bend. Medanoré sighed before heading deeper into the cafeteria to get some food.

Meanwhile Ryoga headed off in the direction of Ryoma's room. "If I'm correct, chibisuke's room should be just round that corner."

"Ah... Number 117." Ryoga stopped in front of the door and knocked twice.

On hearing no answer, Ryoga turned the handle and walked in. The room was big, bigger than Ryoga's two person bedroom which he shared with Byoudouin on the upper floor. The beds were all empty with the exception of the bed on the right of the room. Ryoma lay sleeping, the covers covering him up to his chin. Ryoga glanced at him. "Ah... He looks so cute and peaceful sleeping like that. Reminds me of the old days. Maybe I should just leave him." He thought, a fond smile coming to his lips.

Ryoga exited the room and headed off to the cafeteria. Or should I say that was what were to happen if he didn't hear Ryoma call out something. "You say something chibisuke." He said, retreating back to the bed.

Ryoma was turned on his side, his nails digging into his pillow. Ryoga looked at him with a small teasing smile. "Is little chibisuke having a nightmare?" He teased before reaching out to shake him awake.

Ryoma however did not stir. "Fuyu... Shou..." Ryoma called out before digging his nails further into the pillow.

Ryoga stood still and stared confusingly at Ryoma. Ryoma however just shouted louder. "Stop it! It hurts... Don't kill them... Please... I'll do anything... Just don't hurt my friends..." Ryoma's voice gradually became softer towards the end.

Ryoga just stared in shock however this shock was soon replaced by worry when tears began streaming down Ryoma's face. Ryoga having enough, shook the boy awake. Ryoma's eyes snapped open at he call of his name. "Daijoubu?" Ryoga called out to a shaking Ryoma.

Ryoma however just grabbed Ryoga's arm and silently shook as the tears quietly slid down his face. Ryoga watched for a full 5 minutes as his usually calm and antisocial younger brother broke down before him. Ryoga collected the small boy into his arms and tried to calm him down. Ryoga had always wanted Ryoma to act his age but never like this. Ryoga patiently waited for his younger brother to stop his tears before asking him any questions.

Meanwhile all the teenagers had settled down in the cafeteria. All coaches and the American and German team were both there. The head councillor went to the top of the cafeteria. "Could I have everyone attention please." He called out.

Everyone all simultaneously turned round to face him. He cleared his throat before continuing. "So is everyone here?"

"No sir." Medanoré caled out. "Both Echizen Ryoga and Ryoma are not here?"

"Oh well. No matter. Could the Roommates of both Echizen Ryoga and Ryoma please portray what I am about to tell you." Byoudouin clicked his tongue in response. Now he would have to deal with speaking to an airhead.

Medanoré, Tezuka and Kazuya all just nodded in the affirmative. The councillor continued. "Okay. I want to start off with praising you for the great sportsmanship you have displayed today. I'll choose to ignore the lunch you had on the ship. So for the next week we all will be training here. At first we were going to have separate timetables for the woman's and U-17 teams however we have come to the conclusion that you will all vastly improve more whilst working together so the schedules are all the same. I will briefly go over a few basic core things that will happen daily. Okay. To start off, breakfast is at 6:00 sharp. 6:30 training starts. At ten we will stop for an hour break. Then comes the theory lessons till 12. Noon is lunch. I need not remind you to act civilised again. At one o'clock we will begin the practice matches. Everyone will play everyday. Maybe more than once. This will finish at 7. You will have a break till 8 then you will continue training for 2 more hours. We finish at 10. What you choose to do during the breaks or after training does not concern us, however if you fail to attend the training then consequences will occur. That is all." The councillor walked off followed by coach Phipps who had just entered the room.

Before walking out the the room. Phipps turned round and gave a cheery wave. "Oh yeah. You better prepare yourself. We're sticking with the same training regime as the coaches 3 years ago prescribed. Its Bru-Tal~" he said before walking out.

Medanoré, Camus and Amadeus all paled whilst Merry just smirked. "The is going to be fun!" She thought before turning to look at the three mentioned before.

"According to my data, Coach Phipps is not exaggerating when he says its brutal." Inui piped up from behind the other Japanese middle schoolers.

"Uwah.. Inuiii.." A few screamed.

"Don't do that." Akaya yelled.

"Do what?" Inui faked innocence.

"Anyway what's this about brutal training Inui-kun? Irie asked.

"You know how Ravers was considered the best tennis camp in the world. They trained players so that they could become pros. Most do if they survive." Inui said.

"If they survive..." Oishi gulped.

"Yes, if they survived. The training was so brutal most dropped out within a week. Some even a day. Many were sent to hospital due to strenuous training. Some quit tennis and some ruined their whole tennis career. But those who did survive are on another level even on the pro's field especially the top 8 members. They had the best batch of regulars 3 years ago. Some were our age and some even younger. I think the youngest was 10." Renji finished off.

The revelation left many in silence even the usually rowdy Kintaro. "But its amazing you know. The person who apparently designed the training menus was a 14 year old girl. She was apparently the mental coach of Ravers. She is said to have died during the explosion three years ago, however if she had survived she would probably be the best mental coach in the whole world." Kimijima added.

Everyone silently went back to their places to finish their meal. Back at room 117, Ryoma had finally stopped crying and shivering. He was now calm and was silently leaning on the bed frame. Ryoga gently patted his shoulder. "So, you want to tell me what made you like that?" Ryoga said.

At first Ryoma remained silent but after a few seconds he decided to talk. "This place... I hate it... I don't know why though. I don't even remember what I was dreaming about. All I know is that it's related this place." Ryoma said silently.

Ryoga didnt ask any more questions, he silently stroked Ryoma's head before getting off the bed. "Okay, want to get something to eat. It'll make you feel better, chibisuke." Ryoga said.

Ryoma nodded his head before he stood up and made his way to the bathroom. Ryoga watched him go before his face contorted into pure anger. "Nobody makes chibisuke cry. Someone's going to pay dearly for this. No doubt its connected to his past which he still hasn't remembered yet. Oyaji and I need to have a talk later on." He thought.

The teenagers had nearly finished their meals when the two Echizens walked in. "Oi, where were you two?" Kiko called out gesturing them to the table where the Americans sat.

"Chibisuke was sleeping. Took me forever to get him out of bed. Stubborn guy you know." Ryoga replied. It wasn't a lie. Ryoma was sleeping and it did take ryoga ages to get him out of bed, not to mention he is very stubborn.

Ryoma's face did not look out of the ordinary nor did he act any different than he usually does so no one commented. Only a few keen players noticed the young prodigy's out of place face and behaviour. However these few only thought it was due to him just waking up so they let it slide. Though they were a few that thought differently. After seeing Ryoma walk in four teenager's eyes darkened and they all cleanched their fist. "Is something the matter? One of Amadeus's teammates asked him.

"Ah.. It's nothing." He quickly reassured before smiling a fake smile and going back to his food.

One by one the teenagers finished eating and so began to leave. The four teenagers made their way to the roof of the building after dismissing themselves. "He was crying." Amadeus said.

"Yeah, we could tell." Camus replied softly whilst the other two just nodded softly.

"Do you think he got his memory back?" Amadeus asked.

"Maybe but unlikely." Medanoré said

"It could just be a fraction of his memory that's returned. Anyway right now he's not completely oblivious of this place that's for sure." Merry finished off.

"Anyway we have got to prevent him from getting any more of his memory back from now on." Camus pointed out.

"Yeah. We know that, but how?" Amadeus questioned.

"Keep tabs." Camus sheepishly commented.

"Keep tabs!" Amadeus repeated before adding "you're not serious."

Camus shrugged. "Okay. Medanoré you're keeping tabs. Do not let Ryoma out of your sights. You share the same room so its okay. I know it's probably a useless thing to do but its the best we got." Merry said.

Medanoré only nodded as they dispersed to go back inside the building. Back inside the building in a small room a man watched from the monitor screens. "Keeping tabs won't do you any good you know."

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 **Okay this has been my longest chapter yet. I've totally run out of ideas so this is why my chapter was longer as I just basically dragged everything.**

 **I can't promise 2 weeks now though I'll try my best.**

 **Chapter 5 coming soon, I hope!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the slow update was a little caught up in things. Actually that's a lie. I just couldn't be bothered to write. Anyways here's the fifth chapter. Hope you enjoy it. The characters Medanoré, Camus and Amadeus are all going to be a bit OC ish as they have barely showed up in the manga. We still haven't seen Amadeus or Medanoré's full face yet. And they've just started the World Cup Japan vs Greece and so my story goes before all of this. Once the new chapters come out this won't make any sense so later on it will become a rewrite of the story.**

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Medanoré cursed under his breath as he marched towards his room. He had seen Ryoma crying on the ship and could tell he had been crying before entering the dining hall. "Maybe I should have told the others about what happened on the ship. I don't know what to do. But if I had told them they would have worried more. Merry would do something drastic again like last time." Medanoré chewed on his lip as he cursed some more mentally.

Similarly Amadeus, Camus and Merry strolled off, each drowned in their own whirlpool of emotions and thoughts. What none noticed was the faint shadow of a man that followed their trail. Unnoticed, each man held a receiver to their ear and simultaneously spoke into it. What was said is likely amongst the following verse, "Target in sights. Operation 'RoH' is a go."

Back in the cafeteria everyone had left save the U-17 American team and a few others. "Come on. You two better start eating. We're going to have a team meeting in a bit in one of the spare recreation rooms. Ralph suggested it." Kiko blabbed to the brothers urging them to eat faster.

"Hai, hai. We'll eat faster, won't we chibisuke. Oh here..." Ryoga replied whilst forcing a spoonfull of his curry into Ryoma's unsuspecting mouth.

Choking Ryoma cried out "What the hell was that for?"

"Mada mada daze chibisuke. You were spacing out. Eat." The elder rebuked back.

Groaning Ryoma shifted his glare to his plate before digging into his food. The others just laughed at the brother's antics as they watched the young prince engulf the entire contents of his plate.

Sweat poured out of the pores of his forehead as he struggled to keep his breathing even. It was unusual for him to be this heavily exhausted after just a short run. Tezuka had watched his Seigaku pillar enter the cafeteria and although nothing seemed out of place on his face Tezuka could not help but feel the sudden and distinct change in personality the boy had displayed whilst entering the place as to before entering the camp. Tezuka knew not what was the case of such a change and was not nearly stupid enough to pass it off as a mere bad mood or as Ryoga liked to call it "Rebellious Phase." Though for one thing, Tezuka knew his lack of focus was due to Ryoma's earlier display.

"Oi Kun'imitsu. Get back to running. You're slaking. Concentrate." Volk barked his order at him before heading off into another 'light' sprint.

"Yes sir." Tezuka called out before following after.

Meanwhile back inside other teenagers still struggled to keep a level head. There were disputes and a few close brawls with a few members but after the sane decision of coach Phipps, the teenagers were separated and told to hang out with their own teammates. The day continued like this whilst everyone discussed preparation tactics to use for the upcoming week.

In an almost deserted lounge the American team sat down to have their little meeting. "Okay guys. Tomorrow and for the rest of the week try not to go full strength when participating in the training. However do not use too little strength that the other teams will come to look down upon us." Ralph started off.

"Eh... Can't we go all out. It would be more fun. I mean we get to scare some of the others. Oh... Especially the Tube Republic. I hate those guys." A player called out earning a few nods from other team members present.

"We can't. We've got to keep it a secret. If everyone saw how strong we are they can compare it to their own team strength and will eventually figure out a way to counter us. Not to mention they'll see all of our special moves and techniques." Dodo replied back.

"Dodo is right. So when we train we will not go all out. Got it?" Ralph addressed the whole group.

"You heard the man Ryoma, no flashy moves 'kay?" Kiko gleefully teased.

Ryoma sighed before quickly replying in the affirmative and then stood up to leave. A few others followed after until the only remaining were Ryoga and Ralph. Before Ryoga could leave however, Ralph called out to him. "Ryoga."

On hearing his name, Ryoga turned round to face his captain. "I need a word." He continued.

Ryoma silently walked down the corridor. He wasn't feeling up to it. He wasn't feeling up to do anything, not even tennis and we all know how much of a tennis loving maniac Ryoma is. Tokugawa walked by and glanced at him. A quick look of concern flashed through Kazuya's eyes before dissapearing. He hurriedly stalked by before Ryoma could recognise his presence. "Echizen-kun... What the hell is wrong with you?" Kazuya thought before dissapearing round the corner.

Night came and the teenagers were mostly all exhausted. Being on each others bad side took quite a toll on the body as the whole afternoon was conversed in fighting and disputed. Everyone took an early night so they could be fit for the training tomorrow. Soon everyone was fast asleep except a few. Those few included everyone in room 117 save the little prince. The three teens all had one thought in their heads as their eyes laid transfixed on the sleeping figure at the far corner of the room. "What happened to you?"

Meanwhile a fourth lay awake on the floor above. Ryoga quietly slipped out of his room and took the stairs to the third level. The third level held no dorms so it was void of people. Ryoga quickly flipped open his phone and punched a few keys before holding it to his ear. There was a bit of static considering the era his phone was made in but nevertheless someone answered over the phone.

"Yo. Nanjiroh here. If you ain't a cute girl I ain't gonna talk but if you ar..."

"Cut the crap oyaji!" Ryoga angrily cut in.

"Ryoga!? What's wrong?" Nanjiroh answered worry in his voice, his previous persona clearly gone.

"It's chibisuke." Ryoga replied his anger temporarily leaving him as his younger brother outburst shocked him.

"He was crying. He doesn't even know why. I went to go get him after he fell asleep after unpacking. He was dreaming something weird, he started to cry whilst sleeping so I tried to wake him up but when he did he just broke down" He said he didn't know why. He just said he hated this place."

"This place?" Nanjiroh interrupted.

"Yeah. Ravers." Ryoga called back.

Just then there was a sudden clatter as Nanjiroh's phone slipped from his hand.. "Oyaji..?"

"Why the hell are you at Ravers. Weren't you supposed to be taking part in the U-17 World Cup? What happened? Answer me Ryoga." Nanjiroh frantically called.

"As I thought, you do know Ravers. So you also know why Chibisuke is the way he is. You know what happened to him. Tell me." Ryoga softly said.

There was a moment silence before Nanjiroh spoke again. "Okay fine but full story first."

"Fine" Ryoga complied before beginning his recount on how the entire U-17 participating teams ended up on a shrouded island in the middle of nowhere. (Exagerration. They're in the Pacific near South America.)

A few minutes passed where Ryoga conversed endlessly on how they were in the situation they were in. He was then interrupted when Nanjiroh called "Hey Ryoga who are these two dammed women who got all you into this mess?"

"The one from Germany, I think her name is Cecelia. Its basically all her fault. She's the one wouldn't accept she lost. Then there's the girl from America. She owned the German without batting an eyelash. I think her name's Merry." Ryoga replied.

"Merry!?" Nanjiroh practically screamed over the phone.

"Uh yea..."

"Merry's here?"

"You know her?" Ryoga questioned.

"Does that Merry have silver hair and golden eyes similar to Ryoma's?"

"She's got silver hair but I'm not so sure about the eyes. I've never really had a good look at her, but she might have them."

"Ah... Merry's here eh." Nanjiroh said after a moment of silence.

"You know her?" Ryoga repeated.

"Ah yes. She's an old friend of Ryoma. You can trust her. So Merry is here. Then its fine then. If Merry is here then Ryoma will be fine."

"Eh.. You sure. I've never seen her speak or even look at Chibisuke. Not to mention he was also crying, how is that alright."

"Its fine. You can trust her." Nanjiroh said.

"Fine but its pretty hard to trust someone you don't even know." Ryoga rebuked back.

Sighing Nanjiroh called out to Ryoga "I've heard your side so now its time to tell you mine."

"Well then..." He continued "It all began around 3 years ago..."

Meanwhile a blonde teenager lay awake in his bed. His eyes lingered on the empty bed on the otherside of the room. "Where the hell has that moron gone off to now" he thought before turning over and resuming his sleep. Well it weren't his problem.

"...And so that's the story." Nanjiroh finished off.

All throughout Ryoga had remained silent as he listened attentively to the older man recount. Despite what Nanjiroh had told Ryoga, he still remains calm which was out of character for him. Nanjiroh drew a breath as he waited for the screaming to come but it didn't come. Nanjiroh spoke. "Ryoga. You okay."

"Yeah... Why wouldn't I be?" Ryoga replied shocking not just his father but himself.

"What the hell is wrong with me? I'm angry. I know I'm angry but why am I not reacting. I should be throwing a fit or bashing a wall right about now." Ryoga thought.

"Uh... I'd better go. You'd better get some sleep as well. If they use the same training regime as last time you'll need all the sleep you can get." Nanjiroh firmly said before ending the call.

Nanjiroh rested his forehead on the wall trying to calm himself. His grip on his cell phone tightened as he brought his other fist crashing into the mirror hanging on the wall. The mirror glass shattered and the impact sent the small glass fragments all over the room. Nanjiroh brought his blood splattered fist down before drawing a sharp breath and slowly crouching down. He flipped open his cell with the other hand and dialed a new number in. "Come on. Pick up. Pick up." Nanjiroh muttered starring down at the screen display of his phone.

Similarly like father like son Ryoga also was seething with anger, though Ryoga chose not to let it out. Ryoga, head hung low silently trekked his way back to his room descending the flight of stairs two steps at a time. Ryoga knew it was bad. He knew that if he did not let his anger out now someone would get the full brunt of it.

Ryoga silently flopped onto his bed as he entered his room. Tiredness soon engulfed him as he recounted the day's events. His mind switched to the talk he had with Ralph after everyone dispersed from the room after they had their meeting post dinner.

 _"Okay. What happened?" Ralph started off._

 _"What do you mean?" Ryoga feigned innocence._

 _"You know perfectly well what I mean. What happened with Ryoma?"_

 _Ryoga sighed before retelling what happened with Ryoma._

 _"So that's what happened." Ralph spoke before asking._

 _"Do you... Has Ryoma ever been to Ravers. In the past I mean."_

 _"Beats me. I'll ask oyaji about it tonight. Tell you in the morning." Ryoga answered before waving Hus hand and following after his teammates leaving Ralph contemplating on his own thoughts._

There was no way Ryoga could tell his captain now. Right now the only ones he could tell would be those lot. Further thoughts were made impossible as sleep completely engulfed him.

Morning came and many had situated themselves into the cafeteria as Ryoma entered the room. He had slept well, no dreams no random wake ups. He trudged his way to where the rest of the American team were seated. His _'Onii-san'_ was nowhere to be seen. He continued eating as the rest before the door was opened yet again when Merry closely followed by Ryoga walked in. They separated as soon as they entered but a glance at each other was spotted by a few though none made comment.

Everyone had finished by the time the head coach came in with the councillor. They were all led outside as the coach addressed them all. "Okay you lot. As we said yesterday, we are using the training regime used 3 years ago. However there were two sets. One set was for everyone and the other set just reserved for the regulars. We will be using the set reserved for the regulars as it is a lot harder than the other set. Any problems with that." Coach Phipps asked.

"Uh.. Yeah. I have one." A woman from the American team called out.

After receiving confirmation she continued. "Well you see. My younger brother used to be in a rival team of Ravers. They were invited for a friendly one day and they came an watched the regulars trained. He described it as hell. He said it was so brutal that if he were to do it he would probably end up in a coma. He then fought against them. His team were battered in minutes. No one finished playing a match from his side. They all took less than five minutes for them to lose. My brother played in Single 1. He was up against a 10 year old kid. My brother stood no chance. My brother served first he won a love game as the kid didn't even move once from his place. Then it was the kid's turn. He served once. My brother ended up in hospital. He quit tennis. He's still traumatized from the event. We shouldn't use that regime. It'll only get more people injured."

"I truly am sorry to hear that but we will not stop it just because of your brother." Coach Phipps replied.

"Its not about my brother its about..." The woman was cut off as the head councillor stood up and began to speak.

"Okay enough talk. Continue with the training."

The woman's talk was wiped clean from everyone's mind as they concentrated on the training. Though the woman's talk about the brutality of the training still remained as it really was like hell. By lunch, everyone felt as if they had not slept for a decade. The coaches had decided to skip the theory lessons as almost no one save a few had finished the training during the appointed time. Even Volk had broken into a full sweat. Some could not feel their hands and had to be spoon fed by their teammates much to their embarrassment. Only a few stood unaffected. That few consisted of Camus, Amadeus and Merry. Medanoré glanced and the three mentioned and gave a small sad smile which Merry picked up on. Discreetly she shuffled up to him and spoke softly. "If you weren't injured you wouldn't have found it too hard right?"

"Right."

"Do you regret it?"

"No.. Not at all. Even if I'm not as strong as before at least I could save one more life."

Merry smiled before walking off. "You're strong. Really strong. I envy you." She thought as she was walking.

The American team were clustered in one corner of the room. "That was... so hard... you know..." Kiko called out between breaths.

"I don't think we can stick to the plan." Dodo called out.

No one answered. I think everyone pretty knew that they would die if they didn't go all out. Ryoma was no exception. Sweat poured from his head as he struggled to stay upright. Training was immense. Ryoma at first was alright but after an hour he completely gave up and just went with the flow ignoring everything around him. Though hard Ryoma could not help but feel how familiar it all felt. Maybe that's why he zoned out. Not due to giving up but because his body remembered what would come next and just unconsciously did it. "Stop. That's just wishful thinking. You just can't admit that you gave up." Ryoma reprimanded himself.

After lunch everyone was brought back outside for more hell, I mean training. Though after a 'warm up?' the teens were to play doubles with their partners. Ryoma and Medanoré were paired up with two random Tube Republicans. Although both Ryoma and Medanoré suck at doubles they won pretty easily.

That match was the only match they had that day and after finishing they could watch the other matches. It was a break for them. "Whew..." Akaya said.

"I thought we would have had to continue with training but luckily we don't."

"Well yeah. Since they are sticking to the same training menu which was for the regulars back then. They must have played atleast 5 games each the regulars I mean. They would have taken up the full time that we have. Since there are more of us the coaches can't tell us all to play for the entire time so we get that time off." Inui replied.

Camus who was nearby understood everything they were saying. Although he couldn't read or write Japanese he could speak it fluently. "5 games eh." He muttered.

"Heck." Camus grinned before a wave of nostalgia hit him. He recounted how they would spend the entire 6 hours playing against one opponent. The tie breaks would go into the 100s all the time. Sometimes they wouldn't have enough time to finish their game and had to end it.

The 6 hours of training went by quite quickly as most had nothing to do but watch. They were given the hour break which was neccesary as some were still suffering from the morning training. At 8 everyone had gathered outside the building where Coach Phipps addressed them yet again. "Hellooo~ everyone. Hope you had a nice rest. So I was thinking. Let's skip training now."

"What?" Some screamed.

"Yep~ Let's skip training and go for a hike on that mountain." Phipps gleefully said whilst pointing at the mountain behind the camp.

Everyone soon trudged along and were all walking in darkness towards the summit, their only source of light the moon which always seemed to hide whenever it had a chance. Medanoré cursed as he swore he just trodded on something nasty. He walked a few steps forward then sidestepped to the right to avoid another accident with something nasty but the moment his foot touched the grassy floor it sunk in dragging him down. Ryoma who was next to him thanks to the head councillor's request that they partnered up - what did he think they were primary school kids or something. The ground spilt open under Ryoma and he too fell along with Tezuka and Kazuya who were in front. The moment they fell in everyone rushed over though the coaches pushed them back.

Some faces held worry though not a lot. Some would say Merry, Camus and Amadeus would be one of those but instead of worrying they all just sighed.

"Déjà vu" Camus muttered under his breath only earning a nod from Amadeus.

* * *

 **Okay you lot. Once again I apologise yet I hate saying sorry. Expect the next chapter in atleast a month. So hope you have enjoyed this chapter and hopefully chapter 6 is near.**

 **P.S - I know all my chapters have spelling and grammar mistakes but frankly I don't care.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I said a month but you see I have this great friend who is basically awesome. You see, I wanted to update faster but I have this cool app which allows me to read manga without having to search it up on the internet. Well she got me into assassination classroom, read the entire thing in 2 days then there were some other great manga which just happened to be recommended to me so I ended up reading them. At first I thought that if it takes me 2-3 days to read 200+ chapters (20 pages approximately per chapter) around on average during school days then I would be finished and writing after a week around. However, I think everyone knows and shares my pain when reading manga. You really cannot stop.**

 **Then the school year ended, I went on holiday, the next school year started, I'm back in school and its been almost a third of the school year. Anyways no more 1 month promises since i basically cannot keep them.**

 **So here is the sixth chapter, hope it's enjoyable. :)**

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"So... What happens now..?" A random person asked. (Not an important person therefore a name is not needed, or if that is harsh, call him Person A)

"Why're you asking us?" Another random person answered back. (Person B :)...)

"Shall we just leave 'em. Probably dead anyway" Dorgias called out.

"What's your problem? Can't you just keep that damned mouth of yours shut." Leon retorted.

"What'd you just say?" Dorgias whipped his head round to face the source of the insult.

"I said that morons like you should just keep their mouth shut."

Leon met Dorgias's glare with a glare of his own. "You jerk..."

Dorgias strode forward only to be stop by a member of his own team. "Leave it, there's no point in getting in trouble now. There are more pressing matters at hand."

"Che..." Dorgias retreated and the tension slowly decreased.

"At least that's over. Now getting back to the point. We have to confirm their safety, that takes priority at the moment." The head councillor (Should I give him a name its too long to say head councillor all the time.) said addressing the whole congregation of U-17s.

"Coach Phipps. Is there any way of confirming their safety first before conducting a search for them. It could decrease the tension and pressure by a lot if we are certain that no lasting harm has come to them." He continued, this time facing the subject of mention.

"Well I'm not sure. I'm not very familiar with this terrain. I mean everyone who worked here before is either dead or is never returning to this place. However I did hear a rumour that 3 years back, a few of the regulars of Ravers did fall in a pit of some sorts somewhere around here and they came out unscathed."

"So are you saying its the same place where those regulars fell 3 years back."

"Maybe... I'm not certain but it is quite a likely theory."

"Likely theory or not we've got to get everyone else to safety."

The head councillor turned to face the rest of the U-17. "Alright you lot..."

He was stopped abruptly when he notice something was wrong. He sighed and face-palmed "We're missing more aren't we..?"

The rest just nodded in the affirmative. He continued, "So who's missing apart from the four who just fell?"

"Coaches, Roll Call!" Coach Phipps called out.

"Ryoga, Kiko and Dodo..." Ralph sighed after his coach just found them to be missing.

He sighed again. "Those guys... All they do.."

Meanwhile the All-Japan coaches looked at all 26 of their remaining members (29 if you include Inui, Rengi and Akuto) who would have all been counted for if not more than half had somehow disappeared. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me..." Tsuge called out whilst the other remaining U-17s just looked at them with a look that said _'ain't our fault'_

"Problem?"The head councillor asked them as he walked towards them.

"Oh, Okay, I see.." He said after taking a look at them before he exploded.

"Why the hell is more than half of your team missing? Can't you coaches look after your students properly. I can understand a few of them that could have gone missing to look for Tokugawa Kazuya but not half your entire team. What the hell is wrong with you people?"

"It's not Tokugawa Kazuya they're looking for?" Coach Kurobe responded.

Coach Phipps who had just joined them after the head councillor's outburst asked them what they meant after hearing Kurobe's response. "Most of the missing students are in fact middle schoolers. Tokugawa-kun is in high school. Some of our high schoolers have gone missing in order to look for him but the middle schoolers are not particularly close to Tokugawa-kun and so it would not make sense for them to be missing." Coach Saito continued.

"Then where the heck did they go?"

"Most likely to find Echizen Ryoma and Tezuka Kun'imitsu." Tsuge replied back.

"Why those two? There on different teams." Coach Phipps questioned.

"Both of them used to be All-Japan Reps and are particularly close to the middle schoolers." was the reply.

"Oh, okay. Wait, how is that even important?" Coach Phipps moaned.

The head councillor turned round to face the rest of the group. " Those whose students are missing please tell me now." He called, looking tired and slightly annoyed.

It turned out to be almost 20 who went missing mostly the Japanese as well as two of the three pros. Volk decided to stay behind and look after his team rather than going after one teammate. Medanoré and Camus basically abandoned their teams and went in search for the missing players.

"Okay, the rest of you are to go back to the camp and stay there." The head councillor emphasised the last two wards glaring at everyone and daring them to answer back.

Nobody did. They all silently nodded before Adrian Phipps ushered them in the direction of the camp. Meanwhile the head councillor stood there immobile offering a silent prayer. _'Merry hurry up and find them. Bring them back safely, all of them'_

Meanwhile a few 10s of feet underground four bodies tried their best to make sense of their surrondings. Ryoma looked around, his head started to clear up as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He looked around slowly turning his head from side to side, making a mental note of his surromdings. He looked up as he heard a voice call out to him. "You finally awake, Prince?"

Ryoma stared at the figure who spoke. The two others turned to face him as well. After a few moments, the figure noticed 3 pairs of eyes staring at him, uncomfortable he asked "What, why are you all staring?"

Ryoma spoke up first. " Ne... Tezuka-Buchou, Tokugawa-Senpai, did he just speak in Japanese or did i bang my head to hard in the fall?" turning to face the two mentioned whilst pointing at the figure in front of him.

"Nope, we heard it to." Kazuya replied.

Tezuka as usual just nodded in the affirmative. Medanoré face-palmed mentally. "Damn, did i just revert back to Japanese." he thought whilst racking his brains to find something to say, "What to do, they are going to kill me if this triggers any more of his memories."

However his train of thought was interrupted when he saw the other 3 Japanese starting to converse amongst themselves. " They don't even care... Why did they even look so shocked in the first place, making me use my brain." He groaned internally. "Ryoma doesn't seem to be affected as well. Well its better this way." He ended his thoughts and started to join the others who were actually discussing a way to get out of their predicament.

He smiled fondly as a wave of nostalgia hit him. His mind shifted to three years prior, he saw himself in the same place he was, underground. He saw three younger children all around the age of 10, one of which who was Ryoma. He saw them arguing amongst themselves whilst he himself was standing to the side chuckling to himself.

He was brought back from memory lane as he reached the other occupants underground. "So shall we get out of here?" Medanoré called out to the group.

Above ground, 20 or so teens were out looking for the 4 others. They had managed to bump into each other on the way and now they all stood surronded by bushery as they stopped to catch their breaths - well some of them. " You guys all came too." Kiko started in Japanese.

"Of course. Just because Koshimae left us doesn't mean we aren't still friends." Kintarou cried out.

"Koshimae?" Both Dodo and Kiko thought simultaneously.

"Anyway, forget this and look. We found some coal." Camus interrupted in English this tme.

"Coal!?" Fuji started to say before his eyes snapped open revealing icy blue eyes. "That's it. There must be a mine somewhere in this area, thats where the coal must have come from."

Camus just nodded. Moments later Amadeus came running to the others saying "Oi guys, I found the entrance to the mine?"

"Great, which direction?" Atobe quickly asked before setting off in the direction Amadeus pointed to. Everyone followed after.

Back in Raver's, the remaining teenagers and coaches all went in a did a roll count yet again to make sure no more had gone missing, you could never be so sure with teenagers. After confirming everyone who weren't missing to be there Coach Phipps addressed the group. "Okay, as we wait for the arrival of the other participants you will have self training—"

He was interrupted when a teen shouted out. "Didn't You say we could skip training?"

"Of course, but that was back then and not now, and my, did you truly believe the greatest training camp, no forget that, the greatest training regime would allow you to skip practice? I had something fun planned out but that will have to wait till tommorow due to unexpected circumstances. So no arguing and get back to work and no one is to leave this building unless approved and accepted by me. Understood?." Phipps replied a subtle smirk coming to his face.

The crowd dispersed with groans coming from everyone as they trudged to the indoor gyms dreading more workout.

Back underground, the 4 tennis fanatics started to move. As they were moving, Ryoma could not help but feel familar with the layout of the place. Looking around, Ryoma stopped when he heard Tokugawa call to him. "Echizen-kun, Is something the matter?" Kazuya could not help but ask. He had noticed the child's odd behavior for thenpast two days and was starting to feel a little concern for him.

This stopped the others in their tracks as they turned to face Ryoma, the object of all of their concerns. "Ah... no it's nothing, Tokugawa-Senpai. It's just this place feels a little familiar that's all." Ryoma finally admitted.

At this statement Medanoré visibly tensed up and his eyes narrowed. He quickly overrid this posture aware of the others. However this slight change did not go unnoticed by either Kazuya or Tezuka, however none made comment. They both decided to confront him about it another time as they had more pressing matters at hand.

Outside, the 20, give or take a few teenagers stood opposite a barred off mine. "Its barricaded." Oni said.

"Its blocked off." another said.

"So we just have to knock it down, easy!" Akaya called.

"Baka, it would be if there weren't any people inside." someone replied.

"How so?" Both Akaya and Kintaro asked at the same time, tilting their heads in confusion.

Everyone sighed and as soon as Fuji was to speak up someone replied before him. "It's due to the shock of the blow. The shock caused by knocking down the door could cause the whole entrance to collapse blocking our only way in. In a worse case scenario the entire mine would collapse, kiling or injuring the 4 inside" Merry said in fluent Japanese.

"Oh.." both said simultaneously.

"You can speak Japanese?" Sanada asked.

Merry nodded. "Then how are we supposed to enter. It would take too long to break this door apart." Akaya said pointing to the closed off mine.

"I don't know" Irie replied looking solemnly at Akaya.

"There might be a way." Ryoga spoke up for the first time.

All eyes foccused on him urging him to continue. He exclaimed that he didn't exactly know how to explain without confusing them all. Ryoga turned to Merry. Merry sighed before explaining. (A note to readers - From what is about to be displayed is not anything Logical, so please do not try this. As The New Prince Of Tennis is already illogical it will fit in. Thank You. I repet. The following is rubbish.) " So basically, the wood blocking us from the entrance, if hit will make the entrance collapse. To prevent that we need to make the door fall in inverse. However to do that we need to hit the underlay of the barrier which is protected by the earth which it sits upon."

She paused looking at majority's confused face. She signed before ignoring the rest and turning to those who were comprehending. "So in order to do that we have to hit a shot with a reverse grip whilst aiming for the point just parallel to the underlay. It has to rest on the ground with a spin for a minimum of 12 seconds."

At this, everyone's jaws dropped. "Wait, the ball has to continuously spin for 12 seconds on the ground before rebounding to the underlay. The most a ball can spin for after coming into contact is 5 seconds at most and that could ruin your arm. There's no way it can last for a full 12 seconds, even if someone could do that the burden on the arm would be enormous. It's impossible." Fuji called out.

Everyone else just stared blankly. "You wanna bet." said Merry, a smirk coming to her lips.

Merry reached into her bag and took out her silver-framed racquet, she positioned herself in her stance, ball in her right hand, racquet in left and she threw the ball into the air and sent it crashing down right towards the barricade. The ball landed and spun. Everyone counted 12 seconds mentally and prayed it would work. The ball continued spinning at the same time digging ferociously into the ground creating an opening to the foundation. ...3...2... 1! Each player held the breath as the ball lifted from the ground and hit the underlay causing the wooden door to fall backwards almost hitting Akaya who was a little too close. The barrier had fallen and everyone stared in awe. The awe lasted for let say 2 seconds before everyone started remembering their fallen comrades and rushed in.

Once they were in Camus went up to Merry. "You stupid show-off, do you want to never hold a racquet again?" he whispered gently but the seriousness as well as anger was displayed in his eyes.

Merry looked up, unsure of what to say then quickly replied she wouldn't do it again — well not too soon anyway. Camus just sighed and sped up. The other players were running forwards trying to make as less noise as possible whilst on lookout for the others.

The 4 whom everyone were looking for looked up when they heard a slight rumble. They looked forwards as Tezuka asked "Anyone knows what that sound was?"

"Cave in maybe?" Medanoré replied.

"There might be others who fell in or it might just be a dead end." Kazuya said as well.

"Oh well, Let's just go anyway" Medanoré answered back.

The 4 continued walking till Atobe almost crashed right into an unsuspecting Tezuka. "Te..Tezuka-san" Akaya said in place of Atobe as he was shocked still.

"Oh hello, you finally found us." Medanoré casually called out to the 20 or so teens in front of him.

"What do you mean by that?" Amadeus called out before reaching out and pitting him into a loose playful headlock.

The next couple of minutes went by with everyone greeting and glomping, only Ryoma had to suffer through that though. They managed to return to the hole which the 4 fell into where the Head Councillor stood there, annoyed and ticked off. "Oi,Oi. You lot have a lot of explaining to do."

The Head Councillor was seething. Although he didn't show it on his face, his voice was slow and dangerous. Audible gulps were heard as the Head Councillor touched the reciever near his ear and spoke into it, calling the search party off. He then glared at them and ordered they follow him back to the camp. They reached te camp and many more greetings were held before the Head Councillor began letting the accumulated stress out.

Amused, everyone watched as the Head Councillor spent the next five minutes screaming at the teenagers, however most if not all of them including Sanada chose to ignore him as they let him banter on. After releasing the stress he turned to Kazuya, Medanoré, Tezuka and Ryoma. "What the hell are you four still doing here, hurry up and get yourselves checked at the infirmary."

"Hai!" all 4 shouted before running off.

The evening passed with amusement before everyone settled to bed. Somewhere with the Tube Republicans a high schooler asked his captain. "Hey captain. Is this really the Brutal training from 3 years ago. I mean morning training was hard and all but everything else was pretty easy, don't you think?"

"Yeah i know, my muscles arent even aching that much. It just shows how much more superior to the other countries. Hahaha..."

The teens fell asleep as soon as the clock hit 12. When all was quiet in the dorms, two men walked through the halls. "Had a rough day, eh?" Phipps asked the Head Councillor.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Of course, Mr. Fake Head Councillor. You really are disgracing the role of Head Councillor. You actually started out pretty decent as well, though today it all went down the drain. Am i right? Anyway Mr. Fake, weren't you completely opposed to the idea of reopening Raver's as well as sending the U-17 participants here. I wonder why. Do enlighten me, I would so love to know." Coach Phipps smirked as he stared at the Head Councillor.

The Head Councillor stared blankly in front. He made no notion to speak so Phipps just sighed before walking off. He turned around before turning into a corridor and called out to him "Maybe you should think about doing a swap. There are loads of those back there who would kill to be able to pose as Head Councillor, you know." Phipps gave a small smile and walked away.

Left alone to his thoughts, the Head Councillor clenched his fist strongly till his fingernails left red scars on his palm. He then stalked off in the opposite direction from which Phipps went.

The next day came and the cafeteria was not in choas as there were hardly anyone there. "Where is everyone?" someone asked.

"They won't have time to eat if they don't hurry. Hey, Ryoma hurry up and eat as well." Kiko said.

"Hai..."

Meanwhile back in the dormitories, tennis players laid motionless on their beds and floors. "Damn, why is it so hard to move?" someone screamed out from one of the rooms.

"My arms or Legs won't move. Damn it hurts soo much" another cried.

Adrian Phipps chuckled before heading out to greet those at the cafeteria. Yay, anoter fun day!

* * *

 **Over.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **This time no promises. When it comes it comes.**

 **The story has started to get a bit OOC. I know its not really Leon who has a thing against Dorgias and its actually Atobe but the story ended up like this so oh well.**


End file.
